ABSTRACT
In South Pacific, Nellie Forbush is the Life Force character who meets the grieving French planter Emil LeBecque, the Sleepwalker character, and washes over him like a fresh-water tsunami. The key to the Life Force puzzle is that one of the potential lovers is in some way asleep. Not fully alive. In a rut. The victim of routine. Bored, depressed, exhausted, spiritually depleted, or simply not yet activated. Along comes the Life Force who wakes up the Sleepwalker and, like magnetic opposite poles, these two are drawn to each other with a strong force, maybe even against their wills. The Life Force needs someone to enliven. The Sleepwalker obviously needs to be awakened, since being awake is tantamount to being alive. Life Force characters enliven many of the favorite films. In fact these films are memorable because of these characters. Often people hardly remember the stories, but the characters are vividly etched in the memories.
